Any alternatives to Mambo.io for gamifying Moodle?

Don't really know whether this is the right spot, but I'll give it a try. We are really into gamification and playful learning and are exploring alternatives to the Mambo.io service that you can set up to work with Moodle.

Are there any other viable alternatives out there, that are open source like Moodle itself?

I saw a presentation on this at iMoot Mini a couple of months ago and was very impressed. It's relatively easy to integrate (which is not something you can say about a lot of the gamification services) and it doesn't require too much of a change in the way you design your courses.

There is also Level Up which looks appealing, but I personally found it rather tricky to implement. There is also the Ranking Block which works well but may not be appropriate in all situations.

That looks interesting, but it's still only one of many game mechanics that you would need to effectively design a gamified course. Mambo does all this, but it's not particularly open source, so it's kind of hard to see how it works. I still miss things like:

- RPG like character building (distributing points to Intelligence, Wisdom, Skill, etc.)- Challenges (although this could be managed through the narrative)- Using abundance/scarcity to influence decision making- etc...

The available blocks in Moodle do some, but not all of the gamification...

(Is there a forum on Moodle where this kind of ideas can be discussed?)

I believe all of those things can be achieved using the tools available. The question is whether they all need to be there. If you are not careful, the game becomes more important than the learning which isn't really the aim of gamification.

Have a look at this video where Dorian Love demonstrates a gamified course in Moodle.

I strongly agree with you on that point, but there are things Moodle doesn't do (or do well), that Mambo does. While I know how to build in restrict access and activity completion conditions, and how to add badges as rewards, this is only a small portion of what one would like to do with a gamification approach to instructional design.

However, I'm open to suggestions on how to boost gamification possibilities in Moodle.

Hi Joost, I think gamification can be much more than what it currently looks like. I've been using Level Up/Badges for a few years now, and I've noticed my high school students aren't all that interested in it. I do really like the fact the Leaderboard shows my hardest working students, but there are definitely some issues with Leaderboards (I think it's important only for people to see a few spots above and below them...not the entire class). My newest project (app) is getting students involved in setting up a gamification system they would find appealing for their school and also providing learning opportunities at the same time.